"A new study has contradicted the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s claim that Muslims have voted for him in a very big way in Gujarat. Carried out by Raheel Dhattiwala, who was recently awarded PhD from the University of Oxford on her research on Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat, her fresh “policy paper” for the Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy says, much against Modi’s claims of “over 30 per cent Muslims” having voted for the BJP Gujarat in 2012, an analysis of polling booth data suggest that “the maximum voting for the BJP by Muslims was 10 per cent”..."
"...While this artisanal salt producing community has lived in the anxiety of this eviction for years, the government gave away 40,000 acres of land in 2006-7 for potash production in the Great Rann of Kutch to Archean Chemicals... Neither salt, nor its producers seem to be on the development map in Gujarat. These are mere examples of the integral parts of the much discussed Gujarat model which necessitates the sacrifice of certain groups of people at its altar.
There have recently been several good articles discussing and critiquing the "Gujarat model of development", which has become a key battleground in this election. The discussion centres around theoretical and empirical questions, relies on analysis of data provided by government and NGO sources, and can appear quite complex. However the main conclusions seem to be quite simple. Below is an attempt to summarise these conclusions as briefly and accurately as possible. The original articles are all listed below.
"Gujarat has the second highest levels of communal violence in the country, after Karnataka (which was also ruled by the BJP during the period under analysis). Someone needs to ask Mr Modi how “good governance” in Gujarat has led to an intensity of communal strife that is 83% higher than the national average and 48% higher than even riot-hit Uttar Pradesh..."
